


Transformers: Nucleus (alternate title: Rise of the Radiotrons)

by kingcorset



Category: Transformers - All Media Types
Genre: "no conjunx" is the cybertron equivalent of "no homo", A Whole Heaping Spaghetti-Pile of Manipulation, Body Horror (but there's no gore), Chapters Will Have Individual Violence Warnings, Cybertronians Learning What Human Memes Are, Internal Monologues, Interplanetary Exploration, Lots Of Robot Size Difference, Many MANY POVs, Megatron Has No Limbs, Minor Character Death, Multi, Optimus Prime Regrets Participating In War, Other, Rust Used As A Weapon, Starscream Develops A Healthy Friendship, Starscream May Be A Bit Of A Coward, Unhealthy Platonic Allyships, We Have Upgraded From Mention To Full-On Torture, Weird Platonic Master/Pet Relationships, freestyle poetry, i am not a being that is easy to predict, it's complicated - Freeform, one is 210 feet!!! and is actually WAY shorter than she should be, she gets stickrolled, she's an aircraft carrier which are 900 feet at the LEAST, that is in fact an important tag that needs to be added, there are also human friends, well one cybertronian anyway
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-31
Updated: 2021-02-28
Packaged: 2021-03-09 00:08:08
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 13
Words: 10,883
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27295420
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kingcorset/pseuds/kingcorset
Summary: After the supposed immortality, and subsequent supposed death, of Optimus Prime and Megatron, the Autobot-Decepticon war has skidded to a halt, and launched into a phase of attrition. With this lull in war, new mysteries have been popping up left and right. On one asteroid belt, a new faction is on the rise, threatening to take control of Cybertron in its weak current state. Abandoned exoplanets host untraceable serial killers picking off high-ranking soldiers. And... what REALLY happened to Optimus Prime and Megatron? They're immortal, aren't they?Various teams of determined Cybertronians, Autobot, Decepticon, and unaligned alike, embark on their own separate journeys to get to the center of this mess. Much, much later, their paths begin to cross...
Relationships: Original Cybertronian Character(s)/Original Cybertronian Character(s), Specific Tags To Be Added
Kudos: 5





	1. [THE PAST] The Day the Greatest Fell

**Author's Note:**

> hi there! you can call me king! this is. well it's my original transformers continuity! chock full of OCs, hard science, and... psychological manipulation? how did this get here? it seems monarchs quite like to manipulate their subjects. :)
> 
> there will be various different protagonists. various here means VARIOUS. in what i have written out, there are ten separate POVs (though not all of them are protagonists)! if you don't like your fair share of swip-swapping between POVs, it is not recommended you read this fic. internal dialogues are a favorite of mine, and that means i need lots of POVs. keeping up with the POVs is important to the reading experience here! 
> 
> you'll also see me ramble here about my cont. i possess an unfortunate habit of sounding like The Judge from OFF. that's just how i ramble. there's a lot i want to talk about with this big ol mystery mess and i don't think i'll be able to fit it all in fic format ;-; 
> 
> also, "Starscream Develops A Healthy Friendship" is a tag that really needs to exist in more places.

**50,000 Years Ago**

...

“Crim~! It’s a new day, with new petty squabbles among those fools to exploit to The Melting Pot and back!”

Crim’s screen-optic flashed to life, and for a while, he just stared at the empty corner between the far wall and ceiling. That too-cheery voice still rang in his head. Despite his grogginess, he rubbed at his eyes, blinked away the sleep and immediately headed up to the main room.

Two energon cubes, Extra Selenium Citrus Twist flavor, rested on utilitarian plates on the grey table. Luckily, the other’s strange teal rust, which clung to the walls, congealing into lichen-like masses, and hung from his like wet garbage, didn’t touch the plates. He was wearing gloves for once, thank the Watcher.

“Did you see the latest report this morning?”

Crim was silent.

“Oh, right. No network tablets.” He reached into his chassis and took out a portable network tablet. It immediately flickered to life, showing a hologram of two familiar faces and an eight-word headline.

**Optimus Prime and Decepticon Leader Megatron Found Dead.**

“Look, look! I bet their top generals are already tearing each other apart to take control of each army!” His voice was giddy and his grin was wide, showing teal-rust-covered teeth. If he could, Crim would cringe at the sight.

Crim listened as the other went on, “Everyone will be busy trying to get their own piece of the pie. They say the war’s been put on hold. Look at all the potential! All the petty little robots we can toy with!” The slightest madman’s chuckle came out of his mouth as he began slicing his energon into thin square pieces.

He loved methodically taking things apart like this, Crim thought.

“Who do you think would be most fun to capture? Moonkiller seems like a fun target, but that gives Starscream a much straighter shot to the top and ruins any future fun… Both? Or should we reach a bit lower down?”

“Chainlink.” The first thing Crim said that morning. His voice was rough from lack of use.

“Chainlink… I don’t remember that name. A scout?” 

“Head torturer. Probably ex-head torturer now. Nobody wants him to take over, no matter who they are, so I think he’ll be exiled in no time flat.”

“Huh. You put a good suggestion on the table for once.” The other flicked some rust off his shoulder, and it bounced off Crim’s chest and landed on the table, right next to his plate. “Well, perfect.

  
  


I’m sorry, Chainlink, but tonight’s flight will have its fair share of  _**turbulence.** ”_

_ ~~~~ _

  
  


_ “ _ Where in the Great Melting Pot has Chainlink gone?” Starscream sat on the bench directly opposite from Moonkiller.

“I would not be surprised if they were offlined. Nobody wants head torturer to become the leader of all Decepticons, especially after Megatron has treated them like a heap of rust and the best way they know how to release anger is by crushing servos.” Moonkiller half-heartedly kicked what was left of a mechanical dummy. The other Decepticons knew Starscream and Moonkiller were training when the training grounds were in utter shambles.

“Falsehood still hasn’t found her way back. So Chainlink’s probably gonna drop offline with her.”

“Do you think the same ones kidnapped them both?“

“The only trace both of them left behind was tealy-blue Energon. Falsehood’s Energon is yellow, and Chainlink’s is purple. I  _know_ the same ones kidnapped them both.” Starscream’s cockiness was back again, even just after losing to the arm of a dummy catching him by surprise.

“And do we know literally anything else about these ‘bots, other than a single Energon type?”

“Well, we tried to trace back the Energon to some other source, of course. You got a wastebasket rattling around in your head?”

“In my defense, more than half the sciences team was captured and thrown around the galaxy. And everyone else here is too lead-headed to work the machines.” She leaned her head against the wall. “But what did you find?”

“We didn’t find an Autobot, or a Decepticon. We didn’t even find a Cybertronian. We found a  **mine.”**

“A mine?”

“Yep. It had some sort of weird living rust exclusive to these few deposits on the planet Bulb-04.”

“How did  _rust_ from  _Bulb-04_ of all places get here? That planet has been empty for centuries. Millennia.” 

“You’re asking me? You just said, everyone here’s a bunch of lead-heads.” Starscream tapped a fist to his skull, as if to say ‘there’s nothing in here’.

“We should find who managed to become infected with Bulb-Rust, and just how they kidnapped 

“For once, I agree with you.”

A twitching mechanical dummy whapped Moonkiller’s leg with its arm. Starscream snickered, and Moonkiller just glared down at the dummy.

“But first… we need to deal with  _this_ scrap.” 

~~~~


	2. [THE PAST] Fell, Not Perished

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A peek into the current situations of Optimus Prime and Megatron, something all of Cybertron is desperate to find out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> little a learning of past situations. as a treat. who knows how much these situations changed in the years since they were recorded?
> 
> can you tell i was hyperfixated on Mother 3 writing about this continuity's Megatron? perhaps. i might just be that stupidly obvious. i'd never know, frankly, my mind is not the most coherent thing this side of the Atlantic Ocean. 
> 
> but, as i always say in actual conversations i have (ask my friends), "anyways. continue."

**49,950 Years Ago**

Megatron was humiliated.

Completely and utterly _humiliated._

He’d achieved what every living being wished for. He’d become immortal. Nothing could kill him, he could never die, he could rule over the galaxy as its emperor for all of eternity, nothing ever posing a threat to his life.

And yet less than two weeks after he’d become immortal, everyone proclaimed him dead.

They found his body in pieces at the site of an explosion and all assumed he was dead for good. They forgot that immortality held strong through anything. Even if an immortal being was placed on a gargantuan cutting board and turned into some terrifying flesh salad, they were alive, they could think and strategize just as much as they could before.

But even if they did know that, it was too late. No well-meaning Cybertronian would pay much mind to where Megatron’s dead body went, and it was tossed in a disposal truck that contained broken radioactive capsules that once charged other Cybertronians.

His body was claimed unsafe to remain on Cybertron, and he was carted off in pieces to the HWAB.

_Hazardous Waste Asteroid Belt._

The Great and Terrifying Megatron was going to spend the rest of his days rotting on an  _asteroid belt_ surrounded by radioactivity and-

“Puppy dog, puppy dog, where have you gone?”

The big, bumbling lead-head that served as his only company. Megatron sighed.

“Puppy dog is right by his Energon bowl.” he grumbled. 

“There you are!” He was picked up in two hands and aggressively nuzzled. He despised this. He was certain this was a torture worse than death. He’d let the Autobots win the war if it would stop this.

“Now, remember. Puppy dogs can’t speak. So if I hear anything, whatever it may be, absolutely  _anything_ come out of your voice box for the rest of the day, I’ll stop bringing in the lead dust that keeps you intact.”

Megatron nodded in defeat. He was immortal, but that lead dust prevented him from losing even more of what was left of his impressive body.

“Now that I mention that, here you go!”

A small bucket of lead dust was set down by Megatron’s… he didn’t have servos or pedes anymore. He was nothing but a head and torso, everything below his waist and past his shoulders gone. He settled for ‘waist stump’.

“You need your little lead bath to keep you from rotting away in all the nasty radiation.” Megatron hated how the voice became all goo-goo, like, well, a pet owner talking to their dog. “Come on. Get in there.”

He was picked up and set into the dust bucket, and felt the uncomfortable, metallic powder being smeared all over him.

He contemplated whether dissolving away from radiation was a better fate than this. 

  
  


**~~**

Soon after the public learned of the deaths of two of the most well-known Cybertronians in history, more unbelievable but true news stories were thrown at them.

Not even a day after Optimus Prime was pieced together and laid to rest, his body was stolen.

The public was bewildered. How does one steal an entire body, let alone that of such a famous Cybertronian war leader? Why would one dare steal his body in the first place? Was it a petty Decepticon? A disrespected Autobot? A clever unaligned Cybertronian wanting to send a message that one shouldn’t be famous for bringing a world into war?

It could be almost anyone, and that’s what was most terrifying. Nobody had any idea where Optimus was, where he would be.

Another article was released, claiming Optimus Prime had escaped thanks to the power of the Eternal Surge, and that he was hiding amongst the Cybertronian populace for… one reason or another. That theory was quickly debunked, because why wouldn’t he want to once again rise to his position as leader of the Autobots?

Theories were everywhere about who could have stolen his body, or who could secretly be Optimus Prime in disguise, unable to fight in the war for whatever reason. After all, his new body, however accurate to his old body, wasn’t intended to work. It was simply intended to forever leave a lasting impression on the public. To show them the greatness of the Cybertronian sitting before them.

Everyone was suspected of committing the crime, but nobody ever had enough evidence.

Optimus turned off the holo-device, and the article blinked to nothingness.

“Immortal means immortal,” he said to the wall in front of him, “no exceptions.”

**  
** **~~~~**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the protagonists... do not know of this, to say the least. this is not common knowledge. they still think someone robbed the grave of the single most highly guarded corpse in Cybertron. 
> 
> ahem. 
> 
> the Cybertronian species, to put it lightly, are not very intelligent.


	3. [THE PAST] Playing With Rust

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> One investigation begins with failure. One murder ends with success. Neither are related (yet), fortunately.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i'm slowly losing every single one of my braincells to pepper steak. 
> 
> surprise surprise, one of these has not appeared on the blog yet! well uh i looked back and what the everliving shit was past king thinking the timeline was. the post has now been changed to its newer, superior form. 
> 
> i swear, we will get to the present soon! but given that this is a cont made up of 90% original characters, you'll need some form of exposition! plus, one of these chapters is the King Favorite - internal monologues. thoughts are so interesting! how they can be changed and hidden, what they've sprouted, they're the greatest thing humans have made. 
> 
> but enough philosophy. you're here for robots (most likely.) 
> 
> continue.

**Chapter 3**

**49,950 Years Ago**

  
  


_ “Well… it’s a planet.”  _

_ Starscream and Moonkiller were standing on Bulb-04, looking out at its vast expanse. The planet was primarily grey and rocky, with the occasional lake filled with orange algae.  _

_ No sign of any civilization lay on its surface.  _

_ It was quiet. Starscream liked the silence, far away from the deafening chaos on the battlefield and the late Megatron’s constant onslaught of disapproval, his constant demands that Starscream improve. He and Moonkiller could fall asleep here, under the yellow Bulb-04 sky, the gentle glow of its sun…  _

_ “There are investigations to conduct.” Moonkiller didn’t sound particularly irritated, but flicked Starscream on his back to snap him back to the task at hand. He immediately straightened his posture and nodded.  _

_ She picked him up, letting him rest on her head as she traversed the planet. There was a surprising lack of blue-green - plants here favored an indigo-blue color, the rocks were a sandy grey, the water didn’t have the tealy appearance that Cybertronian water did.  _

_ “Oh! There’s something bluish-greenish up ahead!” Starscream pointed to a cave that rest in the direction of the Bulb-04 sun.  _

_ “Screamer, I can’t see your hand.”  _

_ “Oh. Sorry. Just follow me!” he chirped, jumping off of Moonkiller and transforming in midair, speeding towards the cave he saw.  _

_ Moonkiller sighed, knowing she wouldn’t be able to catch up with him, and ran after him as quickly as she could.  _

_ The mouth of the cave was too small for her to fit through, so all she could do was watch from outside. Starscream was the only thing moving in the cave, other than various deposits of a green rust that seemed to grow as time went on.  _

_ Desperate wailing came from inside the cave. They weren’t Starscream’s - someone else was on this planet, trapped in this cave.  _

_ The screeching sound of metal scratching metal.  _

_ The faint glow of blue energon.  _

_ Moonkiller could tell Starscream wouldn’t want to stay here much longer.  _

_ She didn’t, either.  _

  
  


**~~**

_ “Quite the non-traditional exile… wouldn’t you say, Crim?” _

_ Turbulence grinned, looking down at the lifeless body of Chainlink below him. Every time he saw this, another victim overpowered by his horrific rust, a rush of power flowed through his body. _

_ His hand glided along the green rust surrounding Chainlink’s now-empty spark case. The familiar scent of newly-growing rust was thick, as it always was when it was devouring an entire body. Turbulence had grown to love the scent. It represented his power, his potential. _

_ The Crimson Doctor was silent beside him. He was carefully observing Turbulence, and his reaction to their work. Of course, as long as the victim was dead, Turbulence was usually happy, but he liked having Crimson there either way. _

_ “Every time… every time, they insist it won’t kill him. But there’s only three people who have survived it, and together, the two of us will get rid of everyone else. Just you and me, Crim. We’ll be the only two people in this entire Watcher-forsaken universe…” _

_ Crim crouched down to take Chainlink’s limp hand in his own. Rust squished in his touch, squishy and uncomfortably damp. Not very rust-like. He pretended to examine their fingers carefully. _

_ “You want to break them? You want to chop them up until those lead-headed Decepticons couldn’t recognize them whatsoever?” Turbulence smiled giddily. Oh, Primus, those teeth. Crim hated those teeth. He’d much prefer to break those than Chainlink’s fingers. _

_ Despite this, he nods. _

_ “Out to the destruction shed it is. Oh, today’s gonna be fun.”  _

  
  
**~~~~** **  
**


	4. [THE PAST] A Series of Unusual Transmissions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things overheard, that shouldn't have been.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HHHHHGH I AM GETTING SO CLOSE TO THE ACTUAL PRESENT THINGS. fret not, soon we'll get to some real shit. i just need to stick all my past lore here. sorting through my blog is not the easiest of tasks. i am not an organized person, i just love me my Bram-Stoker's-Dracula-style snippets.

**_Chapter 4_ ** **_  
_ ** **_35,000 Years Ago_ **

**_THEY FLEE WHEN YOU BLAST THEIR PATHETIC EXCUSES FOR TRANSPORT!_ **

**_OH LOOK AT THEM, WATCH THEM RUN!_ **

**_STUPID LITTLE THINGS THINKING THEY CAN DO ANYTHING TO YOU!_ **

**_THEY’VE NEVER EVEN HEARD OF CYBERTRON!_ **

_ “Turn off the transition link, I can barely focus.” _

**_BUT LOOK AT THEM!_ **

**_YOU STAND TALLER THAN THE BUILDINGS THEY RUN TO FOR SAFETY!_ **

**_YOU COULD CRUSH THEM!_ **

**_WATCH THEIR INSIDES SPLATTER ACROSS YOUR PEDE!_ **

_ “I can start doing that when you stop screaming into my mind.” _

**_...is somebody trying to tell their boss to shut up?_ **

_ “No- no, not at all! I just... do a better job killing when nobody’s talking to me.” _

**_That’s because you don’t teach yourself to ENJOY it._ **

**_OH, LOOK AT THEIR FEAR!_ **

**_ISN’T IT BEAUTIFUL?_ **

**_I COULD WATCH THIS FOR YEARS!_ **

_ “...I really can’t focus, my almighty. Please.” _

**_Fine. If you insist._ **

**_[click]_ **

Falsehood was claimed to be dead two war-years before this transmission was detected by an Autobot spy team.

_ ~~~~ _

_ [The ultimate weapon is nearly complete.] _

“Nearly?  _ Nearly? _ ” Maddened laughter rang throughout the room. “Your ‘nearly’s aren’t worth the radioactive waste in one of my fingers.” Megatron’s limp, detached arm smacked his chest. “The last three times you said ‘nearly’, it couldn’t even be aimed when it was finished.”

He stared down at what was used to slap his chest. A sign that there was no going back.

There was no questioning his leader.

“Don’t upset me. I’ve told you three times already you were on your last chance. I’m not much more generous. Generosity isn’t a thing I do. I take, and I take and I take and I take. Your spark really isn’t something you want me to add to my hoard, is it, you clunking, clicking fool?”

_ [Yes, My Almighty.] _

“Good. Good good good good. You know who to anger and you know it isn’t me. Now get back to your worthless project, and don’t give me any ‘nearly’s until you know it fragging works.”

_ [Yes, My Almighty. I won’t disappoint you, My Almighty.] _

  
  


_ ~~~~ _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> if you want to see more, you can check out riseoftheradiotrons on tumblr! be warned, it is very scrambled in terms of any sort of order, and it's recommended you only look at the art or the asks. 
> 
> also, please share this fic with others if you like it! it took a lot of encouragement (and yelling) to get me to even properly tag this, and it probably won't get much outreach at all unless it's shared with others!


	5. [THE PAST] [POETRY] tears of naïvety, touches of malice

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A collection of thoughts. Just the daily life of a particular Cybertronian, from 20,000 years ago, in poetry form. There is nothing (read: everything) to worry about.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the hellbrain has allowed me to continue, thank fuck. 
> 
> this chapter is in a very different format from the previous chapters, and will most likely never have a chapter in a format like it. that is, it's poetry! not quite the usual poetry, no. my poetry style is a style of my own, although it is best classified as freestyle. 
> 
> **WARNING FOR THIS CHAPTER!**  
>  there is a graphic description, despite being in a poetic format, of **eye removal!** if that squicks you out, please don't read this chapter - or skip the poem that starts with 'i woke up in PAIN'!

_ ~~~~ _

**_20,000 Years Ago_ **

“What side am I on?

Well, look down at my chassis.  
Right here.”    
he taps his chest    
i did as he asked of me

“I bear no mark.    
Autobots and Decepticons alike have committed    
so many atrocities    
and I find myself    
very against their war,    
disgusted at all that they’ve done.”

i was a victim of many of their crimes    
i nodded in agreement

“They let me become  _ this. _ ”    
he said    
and he gestured to his body    
with rust hanging off    
his shoulders    
his wrists    
his head    
his windows    
dripping    
_ dripping _   
a clear purplish liquid    
it made me shudder

“they... they did that to you?”

“Yes.    
They let  _ this _ happen to me.    
They viewed me as little more than    
their own personal weapon    
to cut off life signals    
as they pleased.”

i gestured to my own scars    
transparent material covering huge gashes    
across my chassis    
my arms    
my legs 

he nodded solemnly and told me  
“We are one and the same.”

it was the most hopeful thing    
i had heard in my life   
such lovely words  
  


  
and yet  
i could only believe them  
for eight more hours

~~

i woke up in PAIN    
i woke up in FEAR    
i was IMMOBILIZED    
i was STRAPPED DOWN    
no    
_ no no no  _ _  
_ _ please no zero  _ _  
_ _ not again zero _

i was crying    
i couldn’t stop    
i refused to stop    
i wanted to sit there and cry    
until my body couldn’t make any more tears    
and i’d collapse    
and my life signal would    
blink out    
and i wouldn’t have to  
go through this _hell_

he turned to me    
he looked down on me with displeasure

“You’re crying too much.” 

all i could do was beg him    
beg him not to operate on me    
_ please  _ _  
_ _ please don’t operate on me  _ _  
_ _ don’t open my chassis please  _ _  
_ _ i’ll do anything _

_ my mouth wouldn’t open _

“Here... I have a little solution.”

and his hands went to my face 

his thumbs HOOKED INTO MY EYES    
and they PUSHED and PUSHED    
and they BROKE THROUGH THE PLATING    
and i COULDN’T STOP CRYING    
and his FINGERS BROKE THROUGH    
and he GRABBED them    
he GRABBED MY EYES 

he YANKED THEM    
STRAIGHT FROM MY SKULL    
and i wouldn’t stop CRYING    
but my head felt like it was SPLITTING APART    
my tear ducts were GONE    
my vision was GONE

there was NOTHING BUT NOTHINGNESS   
BLINDING AND WHITE   
ALL THAT WAS LEFT   
was HIM and that   
cruel SMIRK of his   
HE KNOWS WHAT HE DID   
HE WILL NEVER HEAL ME A  
ND ALL I WILL EVER SEE IS **  
****HIM AND HIM ALONE**

  
~~  
  


every night    
someone comes in    
he’s silent    
he never speaks to me    
and he rests in a pod    
so close to the table i’m    
strapped to    
i can hear his venting    
i cannot escape

every morning    
he wakes up again    
he leaves to go get himself food    
and he’ll come back    
and give me just enough to keep me alive    
never more    
never less

his face is so empty   
my vision is so empty   
i can never tell how he feels    
how reluctant he is    
to break off the casing surrounding that    
cursed rust    
the casing that i never made on my own    
but is keeping me alive 

it’s so hard to tell    
his voice is so different  
from the other one's  
but i think he’s happy    
he’s so happy when the other one   
when  _ he _ comes in    
i can barely tell what they’re saying    
i’m so tired    
i’m so underfed    
i’m so afraid

they can’t kill me    
they wonder why their disgusting rust    
won’t kill me    
i wish that someday it    
could kill me    
but they’ll always give up    
and leave until night falls    
again

i don’t know how long it’s been    
i don’t remember their names    
i barely remember my own    
but it fits too well    
to forget

a supernatural wonder    
so rare and so closely documented    


just something unusual    
to live its entire life examined    
and ogled for its beauty    
admired for its strangeness    
and nothing else.

there’s no better way to describe  
how they feel about me.

Eclipse.

~~~~

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> more end notes? king, what has overtaken you? your rambling goes before the chapter, you paint-stained horse tail.
> 
> all of these poems had their own names before i moved them to AO3, however i didn't want to place the names up there as i felt it would mess up the flow my poetry has. the first poem is titled "naïvety", the second one "tears", and the third one "cold"! 
> 
> Eclipse is based on the character of a friend of mine! they are @ZeroSuited here on AO3, and they have an original cont of their own, Afterburn! i have received permission from them to incorporate my own spin on Eclipse into my fic. 
> 
> if you'd be willing to see my poetry style again in the future, please let me know! i have done poetry on-and-off for a few years now, though, like my other artistic work, not many people have seen it.


	6. [THE PAST] Let It Be Alright, Please

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Two very different Cybertronians living quite similar, quite hellish lives.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello!! 
> 
> i am sorry that this chapter is rather short. but after this, you'll get a couple of chapters chock full of lore, and then FINALLY you'll approach the main story! 
> 
> i haven't been feeling the best emotionally as of late. if you like this cont so far, you could check out its blog on Tumblr, riseoftheradiotrons, and i'd really appreciate it!! 
> 
> **WARNING!**  
>  WELCOME TO THE TORTURE CHAPTER. It's certainly a lot. There is graphic description of robo-body horror. There are other miscellaneous torture things. There is King never knowing when enough skin-crawling is enough and going far too overboard.  
> If you don't want to read a solid couple paragraphs of pure torture, CLICK AWAY!  
> I frankly don't know how much is too much and don't want to accidentally trigger people!

**_10,000 Years Ago_ **

He shut his eyes.

At some point, he began to let himself enjoy this feeling. Hands prying open his chassis was the kindest touch he’d received in decades. Probe would attach itself to Greenscreen with a click and speak his words for him - Greenscreen would tell him what a good job he was doing of staying alive, of not running away, of letting him peek into this anomalous spark all he wanted.

“Look at you… you little miracle… your speed inhibitor is gone, and yet you face no health problems. Not even the standard mercury allergy. Once I find the source of this anomaly… oh, the power I’ll have. The PRAISE I’ll have.”

Even the sound of his voice was somehow reassuring. He’d ramble on and on sometimes, his deep voice filling the room, only broken by the clink-clink of him changing tools and when he was particularly concentrated on something. Probe would also poke and prod at him, but not very often. Usually it was just to hold up a limb that Greenscreen wanted to inspect further. It was… well, it was touch. Nowhere near as comforting as Greenscreen’s, but it was something he could feel.

“Your wheels… I never thought to check your wheels before.”

A hand ran along the wheel that took up most of his lower leg. Rather than shivering or pulling away at the touch, he just lay there. He let it happen. This was the most care anyone had shown for him since he’d first arrived here.

 _You’ll be alright,_ he told himself. He listened as Greenscreen’s hand shifted from tool to tool, deciding what was the best way to take this miracle leg apart.

A slow inhale, a slow exhale. Something sweet was in the mask again.

Anesthetic.

_He won’t hurt you. You won’t feel a thing, okay?_

_You’ll be alright, Blurr._

~~

“Eclipse, Eclipse... you just can’t seem to die.”

Turbulence was leaning over the body of Eclipse, grabbing the strange transparent substance that covered pustules of rust and crushing them. Eclipse was conscious, but knew he couldn’t dare give Turbulence any clue that he was. He could smell bleach and

“The mind-control chip didn’t work, either. You cried like a fucking _freshforged._ “ He emphasized _freshforged_ with the crushing of another transparent rust pocket. “Your body’s packed to the brim with wonders. No conjunx.”

It took all of Eclipse’s willpower not to cringe. He hated every sensation he was feeling right now, but he couldn’t dare let anything show.

“I’ve finally found the proper equipment to examine these casings.” He notices that he’s crushed every little rust encasement, and begins to rip the pliable, plastic-like bubbles away from Eclipse’s body. Eclipse felt every little tug, every little touch of Turbulence’s icy cold fingers against his body. All he could do was grit his teeth and hope Turbulence couldn’t tell that he was awake.

“I’ll keep Crim on research, and we’ll find just what’ll make this little wonder-film fall apart. Messing with you is gonna be _so_ exciting.” Another yank, pulling a piece of the clear substance off Eclipse’s body. “No conjunx.”

He took a glance at Eclipse’s face, noticing a rust pustule that he’d neglected. “Oh? What’s this...?”

Eclipse couldn’t keep from screaming this time.

Turbulence dug his fingers so deep into the rust that he nearly gripped Eclipse’s _skin,_ and he pulled everything off in one motion so fast Eclipse didn’t have time to register the pain or stop himself before a scream was ripped out of his throat.

The only thing that made it any better was that Eclipse couldn’t see Turbulence’s disgusting, rust-covered teeth pulled into that _sickening grin._

He feigned a gasp of surprise seeing Eclipse weakly try to move his arm past the bindings, “My favorite test subject is awake! No conjunx.” He dragged his fingers down Eclipse’s face, watching as they carved out thin scratch marks on Eclipse’s terrified face.

Eclipse didn’t dare make another sound. He was shaking, breathing heavily, he felt so cold, he felt so hungry, he just wanted this voice and these _touches,_ oh _Primus_ these _touches_ to stop.

“I’ll tell Crim to bring down your food, now that I know you’re awake. Listen for his footsteps. Since I accidentally woke you up, you’ll get extra! How does that sound?”

Eclipse rapidly nodded his head. ‘Showing ungratefulness’ to Turbulence would only land him in a worse position - though he couldn’t imagine anything worse than this. Strapped down to a table in a pile of his own filthy exhaust, unable to see, this voice that wouldn’t stop saying ‘no conjunx’ being the only thing attached to the torture.

“Good... You’re still alive, aren’t you? Isn’t that so _kind_ of me, so _generous?_ Most people who see me die the next day, but you... you’re a special case. No conjunx.”

“Th- thank you...”

Eclipse could _hear_ the sadistic pleasure, the twisted grin. “ _Good_ boy...” A thumb brushed across Eclipse’s cheek. He shivered.

Two more words, whispered into his audial.

_“No conjunx.”_

Fading footsteps.

The double airlock shut.

~~~~


	7. [PRESENT] Spiders And Stick Bugs

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Enter our protagonists. Two escapees, one (soon to be two) exiles, and... Ness.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> YOU SEE THAT CHAPTER ADDITION??? WE'RE AT THE PRESENT BITCHES!!!!!
> 
> there is some cut content from the past that can still be found at the cont's Tumblr blog, riseoftheradiotrons! go check it out! 
> 
> luckily, this chapter has no warnings (that I can think of), and you FINALLY get to see a few more of these character tags!

_**Present Day** _

Pascal heard a familiar high voice call out for it.

“Pascaaaal!” 

It sighed. “What do you need to get down from the shelf this time, Sparkplug?”

“It isn’t a high shelf. I’m stuck to the ceiling!”

“That’s a new one,” it muttered, setting down the controller in its hands and heading to the other side of the storage shed it and its Cybertronian friends called home.

Opening the huge door, Sparkplug was indeed stuck to the ceiling. A pale purple jelly-like substance held her to the corner between the wall and the ceiling, cocooning her like a fly caught in a spider’s web.

Oh, no, a  _ spider. _

Pascal groaned. It really didn’t need any Decepticons searching for it, least of all Blackarachnia’s team.

If this was truly Blackarachnia’s webbing, touching it would only make things worse. The water cannons rose from its back and aimed right at the gooey webbing, firing a blast of high-pressure scalding water. The goo was washed away, Sparkplug falling to the ground.

“Did you just see a giant spider and decide it was a good idea to tease it?” Pascal helped Sparkplug to her feet, its face that of a disappointed mother.

“For once, nope. I decided it was a good idea to run away from it, and then it found me here and decided I’d make a good wall lamp.” She tried to flick a piece of webbing off her, only for it to stick to her finger.

“Well, now she knows what we are... and it's too likely she’s going to try to capture us.” Pascal tapped the Decepticon symbol resting on its chest. Despite the paint over its symbol, the imprint was still there.

“Wouldn’t… wouldn’t she go after Wavecrash? Aren’t sey an Autobot?”

“Yeah, but right now Autobots are the least of the Decepticons’ worries.”

Sparkplug looked at Pascal like it just told her the sun revolved around the planets.

“The reasons are confidential.”

She shrugged. When something was confidential, no amount of pestering or threats could convince Pascal to give it up.

“Let’s find Blackarachnia, then.” 

  
  


~~

  
  


“ _ This _ is Earth humor?”

“Yeah.”

‘Top 10 Wide Presidents Walking’ was playing on Ness’ tablet. Blackarachnia held feir tablet in two fingers, close enough to her face so she could see what the hell was going on.

“I don’t see it.”

Ness was snickering. “Look at ‘em. Such thick boys.”

“Who’s the Queen of England?”

Ness’ laughter could be mistaken for a goose honk.

Sparkplug ran out of the door of the warehouse, seeing Ness and Blackarachnia sitting right outside. She froze dead in her tracks.

“Uh, Ness… what records are you showing her?”

Fey shrugged. “Wide presidents. We’ll be getting to ‘stickbugged’ in a bit.”

“No confidential records?”

“If fey  _ were _ sharing confidential records with me, and these wide presidents are some sort of code, I cannot decipher it.” Blackarachnia sighed, dropping the tablet on the ground as the list got to number 2. She scrutinized Sparkplug in front of her, all eight eyes locked on her. “What is your alt form, a lunchbox?” 

Ness caught the tablet, staying by Blackarachnia’s side so fey could run and tell Pascal if she tried to hurt Sparkplug.

Sparkplug glared up at Blackarachnia, looking as intimidating as she could with her lacking height. “A high-power computer setup.”

“Rectangular and holds food inside. Close enough.” She leaned back up. She was  _ huge, _ even for Sparkplug’s standards. Organic-Cybertronian fusions, although few existed, were often much larger than the average Cybertronian.

Sparkplug took one careful step back towards the door of the warehouse.

“Ness… you do know who that is, right?”

“The most I know about Cybertronians is that they’re big and they eat funky glowy cubes. I haven’t gotten a history lesson. How dangerous could she be?” Fey patted one of her long legs.

“That’s literally the leader of the  _ most feared assassin team in recent Cybertronian history.” _

“Ohhh.” Fey looked back up at her. “ _ Ohhh.”  _ Fey looked back down at Sparkplug. “Is Wavecrash okay?”

“Pascal’s calling sem. Hopefully sey answer.”

As if on cue, Pascal rushed around the side of the warehouse, Wavecrash’s arm in hand. “Pluggie! I found sem! Hopefully Blackarachnia-  _ NESS. STOP CLIMBING HER LEG.” _

Ness shrugged. “I aim to displease.”

“Besides, it’s not like I’m going to kill fem or anything. Fey’re showing me Earth humor. I enjoy this stickbug.” Blackarachnia poked the screen in Ness’ hands.

“Ness.” Pascal let go of Riptide’s arm. “ _ Ness.” _

“Yeah?”

“ _ Did you just stickbug the most terrifying assassin in recent Cybertronian history?” _

“Hey. She likes it.”

Blackarachnia moved her head side to side like the “get stickbugged lol” gif.

Pascal pinched the bridge of its nose. “We’re going to have to give you a bit of a history lesson.”

  
  


~~

  
  


“And thus, fear of her spread throughout Cybertron and beyond.”

Ness, sitting comfortably on Blackarachnia’s head, nodded. “Why is she here, then?”

Pascal tried not to look intensely nervous as it spoke, “…I believe it is to bring me back to the Decepticon forces so there is no way of me spreading any more crucial information.”

“It’s not.”

“It’s  _ what?” _

Blackarachnia sighed, repeating herself. “It’s  _ not. _ I was sent here against my will because my entire team was killed and I managed to come back alive. And Starscream decided that it was because I’d killed them, for some Primus-forsaken reason. So I was exiled here.”

Wavecrash shrugged. “That’s some weird logic on why they exiled you, but Megatron’s been going senile anyways.”

“You could say the same about your beloved Optimus.”

“He is  _ not _ senile.”

Blackarachnia rolled her eyes, “And Cryogen’s son Bulb has been found and safely placed into custody, no longer a threat to the galaxy.”

Wavecrash went quiet for a minute. “…he has?”

“No, far from it. We barely even know what he looks like.” Pascal swung its legs back and forth, sitting on a metal crate. “It’s an expression.”

“Ohhhhh.” Seir one large optic widened in realization, then a second later, sey glared at Blackarachnia. “Don’t insult Optimus like that!”

“I’m trapped here on Earth for the rest of my life,” Blackarachnia shrugged, “I might as well slander the leader of the Autobots while I’m at it.” 

Ness climbed down from Blackarachnia’s head, careful to avoid the eyes on the sides of her head. Pascal hopped down from its crate and pulled Sparkplug and Wavecrash into a corner.

“C’mere. Private ‘bot talk.” Its voice dropped to almost a whisper. “Do you think it’s really  _ safe _ having her around?”

Blackarachnia recoiled in disgust after a ‘get stickbugged lol’ became a Rickroll.

Ness had a shit-eating grin on feir face. “It’s called ‘stickrolled’.”

“You hunk of scrap. I’ve been bamboozled.”

Sparkplug pointed back towards the two. “I don’t see her as much of a threat.”

“Yeah, Ness seems to be doing just fine making sure she doesn’t kill any of us, even though she’s insulted the great Optimus Prime.” Wavecrash looks back at the two. Blackarachnia is holding Ness in one servo. They’re discussing something privately. “And she said she doesn’t want to be here either way.”

Pascal sighed. “One week. She gets one week here.”

“Pass!” Ness waved at it. “Blackarachnia’s wondering if she can take the top floor!”

“…Two weeks.”

  
  


~~~~


	8. [PRESENT] The P Variable

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After thousands of years of useless information, Starscream and Moonkiller may finally be getting somewhere.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i am so tired please excuse the terrible chapter name 
> 
> there has been Zero Motivation but that's the best part of already having written out quite a bit of RotR on my tumblr, riseoftheradiotrons, that's rise of the r a d i o- 
> 
> no seriously check it out i do SO much more intricate worldbuilding on there, about everything from the HWAB that Megatron's stuck on to the mental mechanics of multi-changers and mass-shifters to (coming soon) the food of this universe! you also get to see people insult Turbulence. he deserves it.

**Chapter 8**

**Present Day**

Moonkiller pinched the bridge of her nose, listening to Starscream complain on the stone he designated his ‘complaining rock’. Their lack of information had been painfully obvious, and she wasn’t even sure her latest lead would work.

“How come we’ve been at this for  _ thousands of years _ and we’ve found absolutely  _ nothing _ about the cause of Chainlink’s death?! Ever since the archives escaped, maybe  _ they _ could have something, but they’re both gone, and-”

“Correction. I have found one lead. But I do not know how helpful that lead will be.”

Starscream immediately perked up. “You have?!”

“Yes. I managed to find my way to an Autobot, and we have two names from it. Pharma and Cryogen.”

“Isn’t Cryogen goldcapped?”

“Mm-hm. Half a million.”

“And do we have any idea of where Pharma is? I don’t think we should be interrogating a goldcap. His bounty would be more useful.”

Moonkiller nodded. “The Autobots might even steal him from us and take the money for themselves. But... I have a location for Pharma.”

“What kind of location? Planet? Continent?  _ City? _ ”

“A planet. But, according to the recent Autobot records, there's only one bunker there.  


“What planet?”

“The one you nearly died on, years ago. I thought you would under no circumstances want to visit it again, so I recorded a fake message telling Pharma that the entire stellar system would be gutted for resources in one Cybertronian planetary rotation. He will probably head for Sol, most likely the methane moon that orbits Sol VI. Sol IV has been marked as Autobot territory, and Sol III is where the exiles go.”

Starscream looked the happiest he’d been since Megatron died, quickly standing up from his complaining rock. “To Sol VI-I it is!”

Moonkiller was quick to follow Starscream as he transformed and flew off in the vague direction of the Sol system. He needed orders to follow to have any sort of motivation, that was clear. And now, he had a set path. This was the most order - and motivation - he’d had since petty squabbles completely dissolved Decepticon leadership.

She just hoped there was something to find.

~~

Pharma heard something clatter against the high-grade Autonium door of tors bunker. 

“Visitors...? Cryogen? Maybe one of his delusional kids...” Tor grabbed a sealed cylindrical case of Bulb-Rust. Just in case tor needed to perform an on-the-spot offlining.

Airlocks hissed as tor pulled open the doors, and something clattered down onto the floor of the bunker. By the looks of it, a communication device, complete with a little half-meter-by-half-meter two-dimensional hologram screen for video calls.

Tor looked back at the metal hatch that led to tors food supply. The giant lower layer of the bunker, intended for the Autobot research projects that would make their homes on Bulb-04, had been stuffed with enough to last a full battalion of Autobots a cemicade. This place had ten lifetimes of food for tor.

“I don’t think I’ll need any new food shipped over here any time soon, but it’s the thought that counts.” Tor patted the communication device gently, as if to tell it ‘good job’. “Now, is there anything else on here... maybe a date, or an updated atom table?”

Aggressively tapping the communicator everywhere Pharma could see buttons or a touchscreen proved to work with enough taps. The hologram blinked to life, a window of text appearing.

_ [You have one unseen message. See it?] _

A little red ‘Yes’ button was right on the front of the panel. Tor pressed it.

The hologram displayed a Cybertronian, colors indistinguishable due to the entire hologram being cyan, but clearly a Gigatransport frame. A large Decepticon symbol was on the left side of her face, over top of a ribbed sheet that seemed to be covering it.   


_ [”This is Moonkiller, high general of the Decepticons. If any form of life in the Bulb stellar system can understand this message, I would like them to follow its instructions immediately.”] _

Tor began tapping away at the device to attempt to pause the message, and snatched up the notescreen resting on various canisters of Bulb-04 minerals. Safe ones, luckily. Tor didn’t want Bulb-Rust destroying tors precious findings. Tors response needed to be recorded, as well as all the information in this message that told tor what time it could possibly be. Log dates were a luxury tor had to forgo.

_ [”Bulb-04 has been slated for total resource extraction. Any intelligent life not intent on being captured and studied should leave this planet within the next Cybertronian planetary rotation. Such can also be described as 26 Earth hours, three Nartosian rounds, eighteen Yiman veroks, or in the universal time system...”] _

Pharma heard Moonkiller rummage around to find something.

_ [”Approximately 8.60430334 multiplied the fourteenth power of ten... periods of radiation... corresponding to the transition... between the two hyperfine levels... of the ground state of the cesium... 133 atom. Forgive me. This definition is certainly not simple... Now, as the aliens of Planet Deris say, take your copper off the stove. Or your life will soon be in Decepticon hands.”] _

The hologram blinked off.

“That’s a sign that I should be packing up and taking off.” Tor looked around tors laboratory, samples and scientific tools thriving in tors bunker. The canister of Bulb-Rust in tors hand was just a fraction of tors important samples that needed to be taken back to Cybertron as soon as possible.

Bringing all this back, without a ship...

Tor set an exact timer of one Cybertronian planetary rotation. A little more than half of one Bulb-04 planetary rotation.

First things first, sorting items by priority.

~~

  
  


Military-grade containment cylinders were stacked into neat, closely-packed columns, as much as Pharma could safely fit in each cylinder ready to be taken back to Cybertron. The Bulb-Rust cylinder had three extra plastic coatings, with a thin layer of gaseous, nonreactive neon between each coating. The Bulb-Rust could clearly react with any other metal present on the planet, and that would provide an issue if it managed to escape its containment and enter other cylinders.

The various digital notepads with tors findings, which may have been centuries of data from how detailed it was, were stored in tors own personal compartments. These were of utmost importance.

Tor glanced back at the hatch to the lower level of the bunker, home of enough food to last tor several lifetimes. There was enough of that, that could wait. Next highest priority was finding some sort of functioning ship... which would require leaving the bunker. Tor had at least received word that various other Cybertronians and non-Cybertronians alike had gone searching for Cryogen, and they had to get to this planet somehow. Time to check the cameras, then.

A few cameras were set up outside this bunker, for security purposes, presumably. Flicking through them revealed one abandoned podship that could... possibly be used for flight. Tor had enough energon to fuel it, for sure, even if food Energon and fuel energon provided different amounts of energy.

Another glance back at the cameras to make sure Cryogen or the feral metal rats he called his children weren’t coming to Bulb-04 for whatever reason.

It was safe.

The ship in Camera 4 looked large enough to hold tor and tors samples, and with enough energon, it could probably run just well enough to get tors out of the Bulb system... hopefully. There was no time for experimentation.

Tor made a mad dash for the ship, carrying as much as tor could with tor. Upon arriving, tor saw that the ship didn’t actually need many repairs.

“Cryogen must’ve killed the crew," tor said to torself, "for once, he did something that helped someone.”   


The ship ran just fine on the ample energon tor had, and it looked like this would be tors escape.

A quick glance at the digital astrochart mounted on the wall of tors bunker revealed that the closest stellar system that wasn’t completely gutted was known as ‘Sol’. It was known for the humans particularly common on Sol III, but they could easily be avoided by landing on Sol IV, one of Sol V’s moons, one of Sol VI’s moons... the list went on.

Everything was ready.

Many hours later, Cryogen watched as a long-forgotten space shuttle took flight.

“Ah, goodbye, my son. I hope you find a nice little planet that you can form into a kingdom of your own.”

  
  


~~~~


	9. [PRESENT] Just a Quick, Millennia-Long Vacation, That's All

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Well, they're getting somewhere! They have names, and places. Though... it looks like Pharma doesn't seem to register just how long he's been trapped.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I AM SO SORRY FOR NOT UPDATING. i've been... well, i've been doing more on the blog, of course. but now i've come to a bit of a creative roadblock so i'll post what i have up here! soon you'll ACTUALLY meet the Radiotrons! doesn't that sound exciting...? probably not. but STILL

Sol-VI-I. The largest moon of this huge, ringed planet, with lakes of methane that would be just enough for Pharma to stave off of, if tors near-infinite Energon supply from the bunker ever ran out.

Tor could just barely fit all tors important records of the unusual life-forms of Bulb-04 inside tors chassis and tors ship. Tor had to set some sort of base up here on Titan, to properly protect materials, but the only structure on this moon was the ship tor came here with. So tor just about turned the ship inside out, creating a makeshift but surprisingly functional lab. Tors was completely intending to, and perfectly fine with, shutting torself away from the rest of the planet and studying tors Bulb-04 life samples as best tor could in this new environment.

Three Cybertronian days later, tor had visitors.

A loud  _ bang _ on the side of tors ship.

“Oh! Come in, very carefully.”

Another  _ bang. _ “I can’t  _ fit.” _

“You can’t? Oh, hold on.” Pharma carefully cleared a small space on tors desk, containers clinking and clanging against each other, creating a space just big enough to set down tors notepad. The door to the spaceship was close by, and Pharma tapped away at the separate codes, listening to the  _ hiss _ of the airlocks as they opened.

Moonkiller was crouched in front of the ship, Starscream right next to her.

Pharma’s eyes widened.

“G- General! Generals! The Sol planets are- I thought they were uninhabited!”

“You will not be kidnapped. We just need some answers for some questions.” She scooted over to give Pharma some room to leave the ship, leaning against it.

“First question.” Starscream spoke up, now sitting down on the ground, “Are you the one who wrote all the information Cybertron has about Bulb-Rust?”

“My greatest achievement. No other records of it exist. I have samples you could take back to Cybertron if you’d like.” Pharma itched to get back in tors spaceship, get away from these very new, very dangerous presences. But this was the first time tor spoke with someone else since tor first landed on Bulb-04.

Starscream immediately perked up, “Yes! Samples! All of what you have!” 

“Half of what you have,” Moonkiller corrected. Asking a scientist to give up all their materials was outlandish.

“Half of what you have!”

“Alright. It grows very quickly, just feed it some metal if you want to increase the sample size. It needs to be stored in nonmetal containers for this reason, or else it will continue to spread…” Pharma’s monologue about how to take care of Bulb-Rust continued, Moonkiller and Starscream barely able to hear it from inside the ship. Starscream pulled out a digital notepad and tapped out  _ [don’t touch it with anything metal] _ .

After so much clattering and clanking that a cat’s panicked meow should’ve come after it, Pharma peeked his head back out of the spaceship, then held three plastic vials out to Starscream and Moonkiller. “Try not to grow more. Unless you want to.”

Moonkiller carefully took the vials, as Starscream asked the next question.

“Second question, do you know how any Bulb-Rust could’ve possibly arrived on any Decepticon outposts?”

“Decepticon outposts? Well, I’ve been trapped on Bulb-04 since before I even discovered the rust, so there’s no possible way I could’ve played any part in it. Someone else must have joined or pretended to join the Decepticon forces, bringing Bulb-Rust with them, most likely inside a-”

Moonkiller held up a hand. “That’s enough.” 

“No, let him go on.” Starscream kept his notepad out. “We need all the information we can get… and it looks like he loves talking about this.”

“Thank you generals. As mentioned, they’d most likely bring it along inside a vial, because keeping it outside the vial would kill them, without a doubt. It reacts with any and all metal, and this includes Metamechium.”

“Third question.” Moonkiller knocked on the side of the ship to get the attention of the others.

“Will you come with us in an investigation of a recently discovered killer who’s been using Bulb-Rust as their primary weapon?”

~~~~

Stick-strips were a  _ savior _ when it came to Pharma’s chaotic lab podship. Half the walls were covered in stick-strips, holding all the Bulb-04 samples they possibly could. Starscream had mentioned attaching the podship to his and Moonkiller’s to make things go a bit faster, but Moonkiller shook her head with disgust. So Pharma was stuck piloting this thing to the best of tors ability.

They were currently hopping from planet to planet in the Pax system. The Bulb system didn’t need to be searched - as far as the three of them were concerned, Pharma was the only life signal on Bulb-04. Cryogen liked staying in the Pax system during the month of Ruthenium, anyway.

“We’re approaching Pax-12.” Starscream announced over the space-comm link. “Pharma, how many more times do you think your ship can land and take off?”

“I know absolutely nothing about ships.”

“How much fuel do you have?”

“62%.”

The sound of Starscream tapping a finger against his chin. “…You’ll probably make it through seven planet stops.”

“Is there any civilization on any of these planets?” Moonkiller added over the space-comm link.

“…Pax-08, and Pax-03, to my knowledge. I don’t think I’ve been on Bulb-04 for long, so I’m sure they’re still inhabited.”

“We alone will drop off on all the other planets, and you will hang in orbit until we approach Pax-08.”

Moonkiller’s voice carried too much of a commanding presence for Pharma to attempt to deny here, not even taking into consideration how easily she could crush tor. “Will do,” tor responded.

Tor watched, tors ship in a low orbit over the planet, as Starscream’s and Moonkiller’s pod flew down to Pax-12.

They’d be in for a long few Cybertronian days. 

~~~~

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i enjoy radiopharma. hyperfixated on the rust so hard it saved tors sanity but now all tor can think is bulb-rust and tor's SICK of it


	10. [PRESENT] Enter The Catalyst...

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dial-Up's investigations are coming along, with the assistance of their shift-mind, Rivet. Meanwhile, Sparkplug, Wavecrash, and Ness have found something... quite unusual.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hoo boy. y'all are FINALLY starting to get to the good part. a new character introduction, an actual update on Dial-Up, the WORKS. in... in the double digits chapters, yeah, i'm like that. 
> 
> also, if y'all want me to post some of the RotR designs over here on AO3, like, just have a design chapter, let me know! i'm currently working on coloring one character and lining another (neither have been introduced here yet), so hopefully i'll finish one or both of them soon.

"Well, what did you _think_ was gonna come out of searching the planet Absolute Zero’s prison was on?”

“I don’t know, maybe the Selm police force was incompetent and only searched a hundred-size radius instead of the whole planet like they said they would.”

Rivet was silent, thinking over Dial-Up’s point, leaning back against their chair. “The Selm police force is pretty incompetent.”

“And they could’ve also held clues as to where the ship he fled on went. But that ship-port is closed right now, so we’ll have to wait until morning.”

Rivet nodded. “Go to sleep, then.”

“I can’t sleep while you’re awake! You _know_ that!”

Rivet sighed. They weren’t at all tired, and Dial-Up knew it. “…I’m going to go get some tea.”

“Alright.”

They went to search the cupboards for tea cubes.

“Dial-Up, where have the tea cubes gone?”

“I got tea fish this time. They’re fish shaped!”

“Well, that explains the box of these…” They shook a box filled with metal fish-shapes.

“Get rid of the Stannum Tea Fish first, they’ll taste terrible when it gets colder.”

Rivet nodded, and they plucked three fish capsules out of the box before dropping them into a mug and sliding it under the water purifier. They switched the setting from ‘chilled’ to ‘boiled’, and watched as steaming, slightly orange water trickled out from the water purifier bit by bit. The water gradually rose above the tea fish, and their capsules dissolved, letting the tin and sulfide begin to react as the water level rose. They grabbed a nonreactive plastic stir-stick and began stirring, so the flavor would be evenly distributed throughout the water.

“I’ll never understand why you like the stannum ones. Tea’s only good when it’s cold out.”

Dial-Up made a bit of a pouty face. “Well, once it’s reacted, it’s fine.”

Rivet sighed. If Dial-Up could be described in three words, they were cute, determined, and _stubborn._

Rivet took a sip of their tea. Not bad, especially compared to the usual argentum-fortified teas Dial-Up would always drink. And the fish capsules were cute when they weren’t completely dissolved.

Dial-Up looked off at the window that let the dimming light of the center-star illuminate the counter. “You think we should go to the ship-port tomorrow?”

“You’d said they might have clues. Why not?”

By the time the mug of tea was finished, Rivet and Dial-Up were asleep, the abandoned mug resting on the sidetable. 

~~~

_[“This is Carbon to Cobalt. Flight going smoothly. Target location: Centauri twins.”_

_“Carbon to Cobalt. Yes, I received the picture. I am flying a podship right now, I can’t bother to look.”_

_“Carbon to Cobalt. …who ate my fragging Supersweet Grapecube Energon? Greenscreen?! That traitorous scrap-bones thinks he can do whatever he wants just because of his position here. How does he even eat? He’s got no mouth. …Teeth in the screen? Terrifying, never want to- ASTEROIDS ASTEROIDS ASTEROIDS.”_

_“Carbon to Cobalt. You ever see something in space so ugly you just want to destroy it? There’s this disgusting little moon I see below me that I just want to crush. You know that feeling? Yeah, I thought you would.”_

_“Carbon to Cobalt- This isn’t Cobalt? Oh, Watcher damn you, Mercury. I don’t have time for this. No, I didn’t eat your Spicy Shock Energon. You’re the only one who likes that stuff. Go try to teach Greenscreen about loyalty and modesty.” The sound of an Energon capsule opening is heard, and the voice drops to a whisper. “Quicksilver never inspects the podships. I’ve been craving some Spicy Shock.”_

_“Carbon to Cobalt. Running low on fuel, did you refuel this thing before I took off? No? I can’t find any spare fuel canisters. Did you-”_ **_kssssssssh-_ **

_“CARBON TO COBALT-”_ **_kssssssh-_ ** _“EMERGENCY MEASURES-”_ **_kssssssh-_ ** _“LANDING ON SOL THREE-”_ **_ksssssssssh-]_ **

The recording device in Ness’ hand stopped its recording abruptly. That must be the last of it. 

“Wavecrash! We’ve found something!”

Sparkplug waved sem over, while Ness was still investigating the podship wreck. The recording device fey’d found was still in feir hoodie pocket. 

“What’ve you found? Something Cybertron-related?”

“No, it’s a box of your favorite Crystal Bismuth Chips. _Yes_ it’s Cybertron-related.” Sparkplug gestured to the wreckage. A symbol on the front deemed it property of ‘Cybertron’s Radioactive Waste Disposal Team’.

“…disposal team? Since when was radioactive waste a _bad_ thing?!”

“Hold on, Pascal said something about this, lemme look back in the archives…" She closed her one working optic. "Thanks to all the crazy war-weapons being pumped out by the boxful, there’s a huge buildup of radioactive waste. And Cybertronians finally figured out that not only can radioactive material turn non-radioactive material radioactive, but it can _harm Cybertronians._ More Cybertronians have been dying from long-term effects of too much radiation exposure than they have from the war… partly because there are nowhere near as many battles now than there were before. But, well, now it’s advised to stay away from radioactive waste as much as possible.” Her optic snapped back open.

Ness managed to worm feir way back out of the wreckage. “There’s a Cybertronian back there! And… an awful lot of Crystal Bismuth Chips.” Fey landed on the ground with an _oof_ , managing to get back up after coughing up dark grey dust.

Sparkplug helped fem stand up, “You handle this, Wavecrash. You’re the one here who can actually chop through this.”

“You got it.” Wavecrash flashed the two a thumbs-up, tossing Ness feir noise-canceling headphones as sey slowly started tearing away at the wreckage.

The sound of tearing through metal, and then… something akin to ripping off a pipe.

“Found ‘em! _Oof!_ They’re a little feisty!”

A cannon blast, and a shrapnel-filled explosion that pounded on the walls of the ship and, judging by the shrieking, Wavecrash. 

Sey gave the two one last warning. 

“Plug, Ness! _Run!”_

_~~~_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> :)
> 
> :)))


	11. [PRESENT] And Turn To Page One

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The title drop, and the beginning of the searching.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ia-con means i'm motivated to post more chapters. here we go
> 
> [I HAD THIS CHAPTER PLANNED SINCE JANUARY I FORGOT ABOUT IT FUCK]

A blast of... something was shot at Wavecrash. It scratched seir left arm and left a solid dent in the wall of the ship, a dent with tons of little spikes, as if the projectile was a large ball of human razorblades.

The clatter of hundreds of tiny hard things - like shards of glass, or bits of metal - hitting the ground. It definitely might’ve been razorblades. Hopefully Ness was gone by now, organic frames weren’t the most durable in the face of hundreds of tiny razor

The mystery Cybertronian gradually stood up, rubbing the spot where their handle was torn right off. Their empty visor-like eyes showed no pupils, but Wavecrash could almost _feel_ their gaze burning through seir left hand - the one holding the handle.

Their teeth were gritted as they spoke, venom dripping in their voice. 

“What in the _Great Melting Pot_ are you doing here?” 

“Your ship crashed.”

“It _-_ of fragging _course_ it did. When can I ever trust _Nebulas_ to refill the fuel tanks?” They punched the wall - once at _course_ and once at _Nebulas_. The first punch didn’t do much, but the second left a dent in the wall - or, rather, lots of tiny dents, so many that they all looked like one huge dent.

_What the melt was causing this?_

“Plug, Ness! _Run!”_

“There’s _more_ of you?” Another blast of that razor-sharp something. This one hit Wavecrash’s arm again, and nearly blasted the forearm off seir upper arm. It seemed to be like some sort of capsule that shattered upon impact. Shrapnel from the explosion embedded itself in Wavecrash’s arm, the ship walls, crates of Cybertronian food, leaving irreparable scratches as it went.

A surge of power went through Wavecrash’s arm, and sey threw the torn-off handle in seir hands at them at unnatural speed. They raised a hand, readying to blast it back, but they weren’t fast enough, and a solid _crunch_ was heard as the impact rendered the cannon useless. A clear liquid, slightly metallic and tinted dark grey, leaked out, and scraped away the paint and metal as it went. Wavecrash quickly rushed behind the crate of bismuth chips, grabbing two fistfuls of the snack bags, and watching as the unknown newcomer tried to fling the dangerous liquid at Wavecrash as some sort of temporary defense, and failed miserably. 

Sey held the chip bags as if they were volatile bombs. “Okay, answer me before I throw some sonic-speed bismuth at you. What’s your name?”

No answer. Another capsule blast headed right for sem - there must be a backup cannon.

Sey let the power surge through seir hand as sey chucked the chips at seir opponent. The bags burst, sonic-speed bismuth chips making a good improvised shrapnel grenade.

Dripping with strange grey fluid, orange Energon trickling down their plating in small rivulets, they finally, reluctantly follow Wavecrash’s demands.

“I am Nanotube. I am neither Autobot, nor Decepticon. A new faction has appeared, ready to take full advantage of this new chaos, and make use of all this potential that’s been disgracefully pushed away.” 

Wavecrash gradually stepped out in front of the crate, still holding bismuth chips, noticing Nanotube was telling the truth. The symbol she bore on her shoulder was neither Autobot red nor Decepticon purple.

It was green. Two etched-in triangles served as eyes, and vents rested at the bottom of the emblem’s face. Three horns - or perhaps a crown - branched out from the top of the symbol's head.

“I represent and bring forth the **rise of the Radiotrons.”**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry for taking so long ^^; i uh. i am not neurotypical


	12. [PRESENT] Catalyst Coming Home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You all saw the title drop. Time for the events that transpire immediately after it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> my mental health does Not like me, but that's why i'm glad i've already written so many chapter's worth of this, and i just have to organize it. 
> 
> Nanotube is a bitch and i love her so much.

Wavecrash _bolted._

Sey ran as fast as seir pedes could take sem, a bag of bismuth chips in one servo. 

A _thoom-thoom-thoom_ from the podship - some sort of defense turret, set on knocking sem down. Sey instinctively ducked a little lower to the ground, hoping the turret aimed by seeing heads and not bodies.

One shot nearly hit seir leg, and sey tripped with a shriek - staying still for too long meant sey'd more quickly be shot down by the ship turrets.

_Well, she already knows I can use soundspeed..._

Sey managed to get up back to standing, and felt sheer power course through seir legs.

They flashed green, and in a flash, sey were gone, out of the sights of the podship turrets.

Nanotube, whose destroyed cannon was dripping cannon-fluid all over the floor of the ship, slammed the control bar and cursed. "Where in the _great Melting Pot_ did that Autobot _bastard_ go?!"

None of the very small cameras attached to the turrets, nor the general front-sight cameras on the podship, had Wavecrash in view.

She crossed her arms and sat down in the pilot's seat, taking in what she had at her disposal.

She had one functioning cannon, and one completely busted cannon, leaking shrapnel-fluid that needed to be cleaned up before it shredded the entire ship's paint job, as well as maybe the ship's engine and power stabilizers if it made its way through the floor. She had enough food to last her... two years on this hellish little planet. The only benefit of being a Size 1, it seemed. The galacto-marker was still attached to the podship, so she'd be able to locate it if she left it, but her ammunitions were running low, and whoever the _melt_ decided it was a good idea to attack her had left, and she had no idea where they could've gone. 

The best option looked to be scouting - for resources, or for Autobots.

She pushed herself off her chair, retracted her pedes so they didn't get in the way of her lower wheels, and made her way out into the outside world.

~~

Ness looked up from feir spot next to Sparkplug, playing Pokemon Emerald. “Crash Bandicoot!”

“I still have no idea what a bandicoot is.” Sey skidded to a halt, dropping seir bismuth chips on the ground. Sparkplug’s eyes immediately went to the chips.

“So fey _weren’t_ lying about the bismuth chips.” She pushed herself up off the ground as Wavecrash sat down to better meet her height.

“There was a giant box labeled with nothing but a picture of a bismuth crystal and an 83. I tied the string. ” Ness shrugged. “What else was there?”

“Someone named Nanotube. Never seen her before in my life. She claims to be from some third new faction that’s apparently rising from the ashes now that the Autobots and Decepticons are fighting amongst themselves.”

“Anything else? A name, a location?” Sparkplug added.

“Just a name. The _Radiotrons._ ” Sey gestured for dramatic effect, emphasizing _Radiotrons._

“That’s it?” She leaned back against the wall, clicking the joints of a bracelet that appeared to be made out of knee-joint chains. “What are they gonna do, attack us with radio waves? Heat powers are a whole load of inconvenience without combustible material ready at all times.”

“Radio could mean anything.” Ness shut feir Gameboy Advance SP. “’Radi’ just means light, so for all we know, they could just be some nutcase cult that can’t pose a threat because its members are all too egotistical and can’t work together.”

“Cult?” Pascal peeked its head in.

“They like light motifs.” Ness shrugged, watching as Pascal climbed up and sat on a large crate resting against the wall of the warehouse. “Makes them look holy.” 

“Ah.” Pascal decided not to comment on the fact that it didn’t actually know what ‘cults’ or ‘holy’ was. 

“Well, I couldn’t get much. She’s _dangerous._ You see this?” Wavecrash gestured to seir arm. “I’m gonna have to sit out on the next few missions while I take a look at this. She’s got these… these weird… _liquid bombs_ that shred away at almost anything when they explode. I had to pull out the soundspeed to beat her.”

“You’d better clean off any possibly trace of liquid left on you. And hope it doesn’t shred the cleaning supplies.” Sparkplug was lacing and unlacing her fingers together, in and out.

“Well, we have Nanotube. We have the Radiotrons. And if this is an entire new faction, I’ve got a feeling there’s a lot more of a threat than just Nanotube there.” Pascal tapped its chin with a finger.

“We’ll have to start investigating.”

~~

“ _Starborn?_ “ Quicksilver shoved open the yellow curtain that separated Starborn’s workspace from everyone else’s.

“…Starborn?”

“We’re blurry right now…” they murmured, sitting in front of the screen on their desk. There was a map of the known galaxy up. So far, they hadn’t even touched the screen.

“…oh. Any… positive switch triggers available?”

Silence.

“Hold on, I think-” 

Nanotube, from the other room. **_“STARBORN!”_ **

Starborn’s face went blank. Yelling heard through walls was a _huge_ negative switch trigger for Touchscreen, and the dissociative state didn’t last long before Touchscreen was out, and any yellow parts of Starborn’s body quickly turned green. They went stone still, carefully listening for anything that could mean danger for the system.

Slowly, ever so slowly, their limbs relaxed, and they looked back at Quicksilver. 

_It’ll be a while before they get themselves back on task,_ they thought.

Quicksilver looked at the map on the screen behind Touchscreen, and then at Touchscreen. “…I’ll do the searching for the coordinates you found.” 

“Mm-hm.”

“Do you want me to get you… a snack, or anything?”

“No.”

Quicksilver breathed an internal sigh of relief. Touchscreen meant well, but it… wasn’t the easiest to talk to them. Not at all abnormal, considering that they were a fragment change - even their altmode was the fastest of the system, ready to flee at any moment. But Quicksilver was the only one on the HWAB who was ever patient enough to deal with them.

“…do you want a task?”

“I’ll… I’ll search for the backup pods.”

“They’re in the shed next to my quarters. You can reconfigure them for long-term spaceflight. There’s shelled Energon cubes in the cabinet marked with a green gear sticker, if you’re hungry.”

The ‘green gear cabinet’ was explicitly for Touchscreen. Even Nanotube abided by that rule.

Touchscreen quickly nodded, before they sped off to reconfigure the remaining space-travel pods. Quicksilver gave a little wave goodbye, before heading back to their workspace to find wherever the hell Sol Three was. Nowhere near any of Cybertron’s official colonies, that’s for sure…

There was a long day of searching ahead.

~~~~

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> if you want to see more, go to riseoftheradiotrons.tumblr.com! it's home to all your RotR needs. 
> 
> after this chapter, you'll see a lore interlude, so you can learn more of the intricacies of what make this continuity it's own. it'll also be required for the next story chapter, which introduces a new figure, the glue that holds this entire story together...


	13. Lore Interlude 1: Spark-feeding

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> And here's a bunch of RotR-exclusive lore that you need to know in order to continue with the series and actually know what the melt is going on.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> there'll probably be a coupla these bad boys smattered throughout the RotR archive i keep here, due to this series needing such knowledge. as someone whose introduction to the franchise was MTMTE, having no prior lore knowledge was... a trip, to say the least.

To produce a new sparkling, one only needs to touch a spark, and it will begin incubating automatically. Multiple Cybertronians can touch one spark, and one Cybertronian can touch multiple sparks, to provide some variation in the species. But even with that, for centuries, sparks were far more often touched by only one Cybertronian. How is there so much variation in the species? The answer to this is called “spark-feeding”.

Some organic bacteria will swap DNA, linking themselves together for a moment to give each other DNA fragments, and gain new traits, such as a resistance to a disease. Spark-feeding is a process with a similar outcome in mind, so that sparklings my develop traits much less like the one parent who sparked them.

This swapping of mechagenetic material is usually done by touching chests, allowing the sparks to form a link. Detecting a barrier, the spark will seek out the hands to attempt to complete this link. The reason the hands in particular are selected is because they are the only one hundred percent unique part of a Cybertronian, so that when the link breaks, the sparks will know which hand material belongs to whom when reforming the hands. The mechagenetic material then flows through the new link, a small amount being swapped between the two mecha.

More than two mecha in this link is dangerous, as the DNA can be swapped incorrectly, some mecha receiving too many or too few fragments; however, it is acceptable to spark-feed with more than one mech in your lifetime. In almost all Cybertronian cultures, it is required to spark-feed with your _conjunx endura_ as part of the conjunxing ceremony, however, the view on spark-feeding with others varies from mech to mech, and culture to culture. In some cultures, it is viewed as necessary to spark-feed with many mecha, and spark-feeding will be arranged, either by oneself or one’s caretakers. In others, spark-feeding is viewed as incredibly intimate, and only ever done with one’s _conjunx,_ with occasional exceptions made for _amica_ , but usually no more than once. 

An excess of spark-feeding in too small a time frame can result in severe consequences, such as what is called a “feed-lock”. The body is strained from opening so many interspark passageways and passing so much through those interspark passageways that it completely locks, stopping all functions. The mind is still conscious, yet the body cannot do so much as blink. It is a painful experience to be in. Other things that can be caused by too much spark-feeding can be mutations in the host, which can further spread through more spark-feedings despite taking days, even months to begin manifesting. Spark errors can occur when the link between sparks is broken too early, and if any parts touch that are not the required hands and chest, spark-feeders can be fused to each other, with their genetic material intermingling so much that they are unable to separate. 

TL;DR for those who cannot read all of that: spark-feeding is a method of exchanging CNA in RotR that works like how bacteria exchange DNA between them, to keep the population genetically diverse. It's viewed differently on different Cybertronian planets (RotR Cybertron consists of many planets, with the original Cybertron not being very large), and severe problems can occur if spark-feeding is not done properly. The only problem you'll need to know about for now is "feed-lock", where someone's forced to sparkfeed for so long their body becomes nonfunctional and is unable to move, while their mind is still active, processing everything around them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> and that's it! next chapter will be story again. a new character will be introduced, the one that later lets all three of these stories be tied together...


End file.
